Systems, devices, and associated methods for treating patients via renal neuromodulation to reduce a risk of developing cognitive impairment

Abstract

Methods for reducing a risk associated with developing cognitive impairment, including dementia, with therapeutic renal neuromodulation and associated systems and methods are disclosed herein. Sympathetic nerve activity can contribute to several cellular and physiological conditions associated with an increased risk of developing dementia in later life. One aspect of the present technology is directed to methods for improving a patient's calculated risk score for developing dementia. Other aspects of the present technology are directed to reducing a likelihood of developing dementia in patients presenting one or more dementia risk factors in middle age. Renal sympathetic nerve activity can be attenuated to improve a patient's risk of developing dementia. The attenuation can be achieved, for example, using an intravascularly positioned catheter carrying a therapeutic assembly, e.g., a therapeutic assembly configured to use electrically-induced, thermally-induced, and/or chemically-induced approaches to modulate the renal sympathetic nerve.

We claim: 
     
       1. A method for decreasing a human patient's risk of developing dementia, the method comprising:
 obtain, using a processor, user input that indicates one or more patient factors; 
 determining, using the processor, a dementia risk score that assesses an amount of risk associated with the development of dementia in a human patient based on the user input that indicates the one or more patient factors; 
 determining, using the processor, that the dementia risk score is greater than a threshold dementia risk score that represents an upper limit of an acceptable risk of dementia; 
 intravascularly positioning a catheter carrying a neuromodulation assembly within a renal blood vessel and adjacent to renal nerves innervating a kidney of the human patient; 
 delivering, using an energy source, energy to the renal nerves via the neuromodulation assembly to attenuate neural traffic along the renal nerves, decrease the dementia risk score and reduce a probability of dementia developing in the human patient; 
 determining, using the processor, a post-neuromodulation dementia risk score that assesses the amount of risk associated with the development of dementia in the human patient after delivering the energy to the renal nerves; and 
 removing the catheter and neuromodulation assembly from the human patient after treatment and when the post-neuromodulation dementia risk score is less than the dementia risk score. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein attenuating the neural traffic inhibits sympathetic neural activity in the renal nerves and causes one or more of reducing a blood pressure of the human patient, reducing a level of systemic inflammation in the human patient, and improving an atherosclerotic condition in the human patient. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein decreasing the dementia risk score includes one or more of reducing a systolic blood pressure of the human patient, reducing a 24-hour systolic blood pressure variability in the human patient, reducing a level of an inflammatory biomarker in the human patient, reducing a level of vascular stiffness in the human patient, and increasing a level of cerebral blood flow in the human patient. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , wherein the inflammatory biomarker is at least one of interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the human patient is diagnosed with prehypertension or hypertension, and wherein decreasing the dementia risk score includes reducing a blood pressure of the human patient. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein attenuating the neural traffic along the renal nerves includes inhibiting sympathetic neural activity in the renal nerves so that the post-neuromodulation dementia risk score is at least 10% less than the dementia risk score, at least 15% less than the dementia risk score, at least 20% than the dementia risk score, at least 30% less than the dementia risk score or at least 40% less than the dementia risk score. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more patient factors include an age, a number of years of education, gender of the human patient, a cholesterol level of the human patient, smoking habits of the human patient or an activity level of the human patient. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining, using the processor, the probability of dementia developing in the human patient within 20 years. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 comparing, using the processor, the post-neuromodulation dementia risk score to the dementia risk score. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 repeatedly delivering, using the energy source, the energy to the renal nerves via the neuromodulation assembly to attenuate the neural traffic along the renal nerves until a target sympathetic nerve activity level is reached.